Felt vs. Displayed Emotions
Felt Emotions:
The individual’s actual emotions
Displayed Emotions:
The learned emotions that the organization requires workers to show and considers appropriate in a given job
Surface Acting – hiding one’s true emotions
Deep Acting – trying to change one’s feelings based on display rules
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An employee’s actual emotions are their felt emotions and this is in contrast to the emotions that are required or deemed appropriate by the organization, which are called displayed emotions. There are two levels of displayed emotions that can be expressed. They are both appropriately called acting. Surface acting occurs when an employee displays the appropriate emotions even when the employee doesn’t feel those emotions. Deep acting occurs when the employee actually changes the internal feelings to match displayed rules. This level of acting can be very stressful.